


Five Pairs of Socks Spock Will Never Wear, and One He Will

by jouissant



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-15
Updated: 2010-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jouissant/pseuds/jouissant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/74320">Spocks in Socks</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Pairs of Socks Spock Will Never Wear, and One He Will

Spock has always valued Jim's sense of discretion. However, their ongoing personal relationship has taught him that it seems to be somewhat selectively applied. For example: it has been six months, two weeks, and four days since Jim discovered that Spock sleeps in socks. Spock does not find this revelation to be particularly earth-shattering, but Jim appears inordinately amused by it. If his partner takes an illogical degree of pleasure in Spock's sleepwear, far be it for him to argue. After all, Jim is the very essence of illogic, and Spock has come to find that he would not have him any other way. Apparently, the rest of the Alpha shift crew of the _Enterprise_ demonstrates similar behavior when confronted with Spock in socks.

**Five pairs of socks Spock will never wear**

**1.** "Black socks are boring," Sulu says by way of explanation. Spock has no appropriate response to the neon pink pair he has just received. He nods politely. He arrives at his next staff meeting via the airlock.

***

**2.** "D'you know how they make argyle socks?" asks Mr. Scott. "My mum used to knit them for me, and it's bloody difficult. The amount of time it takes, you'd think you were dealing with warp cores or summat. First, you knit the cuff flat- that's the argyle bit- and then once you've done that you sew it all up and knit the rest. But my mum always liked turning the heel best. She said it was like magic- you could never be sure it was going to work out until it did. I expect it's a bit like trans-warp beaming." Spock cannot bring himself to discard the red, green, and blue socks. He places them carefully in a far corner of his top dresser drawer. Surely an item produced so meticulously should be preserved rather than worn out, and he certainly does not wish to risk relinquishing them to the ship's laundry- last week all his whites turned an unfortunate dingy grey.

***

**3.** "Did you know that socks were invented in Russia?"

"Actually, Ensign, I believe that the initial appearance of the garment that we now refer to as a sock took place in the area of Earth once referred to as Mesopotamia. Syria, more precisely."

"I must respectfully disagree, Commander. It was a small village, just outside Moscow."

"Thank you for the socks, Ensign."

***

**4.** "Black socks are classic. They won't get messed up in the laundry, they go with everything, and they're Starfleet issue per Regulation 597-B governing footwear for commissioned officers. And they're a new synthetic that mimics the properties of wool. I got you two pairs." Spock is reminded of the way Nyota convinced him to switch her assignment from the _Farragut_ to the _Enterprise_.

***

**5.** "Have you ever had a blood clot, Spock? Hurts like hell. And that's if you're lucky. If you're _not_ lucky, the clot travels to your brain and BAM, you're dead of an aneurysm. Now, these compression socks aren't pretty, but they're damn effective. Wear them at night, wear them the next time you're off flying a shuttlecraft into some space amoeba- you'll cut your risk of clotting by 75%. You can calculate the decimal places later; right now you're logicking all over my sickbay. And here, take a pair for Jim too. He needs to get up and move around for 5 minutes every hour when he's in that chair."

 

**...and one he will.**

 

When Spock returns to quarters at the end of shift, Jim is there already. He is sitting on the bed, and there is a sloppily-wrapped package sitting next to him. When he sees Spock's handful of socks, his face falls. "Oh. I guess everyone got you socks."

Spock raises an eyebrow. "So it would seem. I cannot imagine where they got the idea."

"I just think it's cute! What, I can't talk about how my boyfriend's feet get cold at night and he wears adorable kneesocks to bed?"

"I cannot conceive of any situation that might arise on this ship in which that detail would be at all relevant."

"Whatever, just open your present. You'll probably never wear them, anyway." Spock holds up Jim's present. They match his science blues perfectly. They are covered with tiny starships, and Spock can just make out "NCC- 1701" duplicate-stitched in black on each one. "Look at the toes," says Jim. "They're toe socks. I noticed that sometimes, even with socks on, your toes still get cold." He looks at Spock hopefully. "I saw them at this little place on Starbase 5 and I thought they were kind of awesome. I know they're probably totally illogical, but.."

"On the contrary, Jim, it is logical that garments should be well-fitted to the body parts they are meant to clothe. The design will doubtlessly result in more efficient thermal regulation for my toes. And…I will admit to a certain sentimental attachment to the starship motif."

Jim smiles. "Happy birthday, Spock."


End file.
